Ecosystems in Balance, From Local to Global, Knowledge into Action, Sustainability Inside and Out, Sustainable Seafood, To Conserve and Protect

Rebecca Flowers

One of the things I found most interesting about our trip to the New England Aquarium were the national and global levels to which such a geographically specific institution desired to affect change. Although the aquarium had conservation foci within its own area, such as in its mission to save the endangered sea turtles that get caught in the hook of Cape Cod on their southward migration, one of the conservation and research projects their ambassador Meghan Jeans discussed takes place in one of the most remote parts of the world. One of the New England Aquarium’s biggest projects is PIPA, or Phoenix Islands Protected Area, an area within the isolated island nation of Kiribati that has been especially affected by climate change. The Kiribati government is currently in the process of buying up land from neighboring (though still a relatively far distance away) countries in preparation for the oceans overtaking the land, which will likely occur within the next generation. The marine ecosystems of this area are some of the most well-preserved in the world, and the New England Aquarium now works with Kiribati in order to protect them. Though relatively remote, this area has, since 2000, degraded at human hands. The populations of top predators that used to be prolific in the systems are now dwindling, and coral bleaching in the area is becoming more and more common. However, with the PIPA, the hope is that, as the human impact, especially of commercial fishers, is limited, the once-vibrant ecosystems will be restored to their former glory. This will prove especially important when the Kiribati islands are eventually overwhelmed by the ocean, and the ownership of once-claimed territory will come into question. For now, the aquarium’s work, as well as the nation of Kiribati’s, has ensured that important ecosystems of the area will be protected. The New England Aquarium has already identified and addressed a problem I had not known existed.

Another of the New England Aquarium’s initiatives is its partnership with various seafood companies to conduct risk assessments of how sustainable their products and the sources of their products are. I thought that this was an interesting aspect of its conservation work, because it does not directly affect change, but instead relies on the current players in the seafood industry to make their own choice based on a long or short term goals, and decide based on the tools the aquarium provides. This reminded me of the ecosystem services valuations mentioned discussed by the study “Valuation of natural marine ecosystems: an economic perspective,” because the Aquarium is, through its conservation work, able to provide an economic basis for ecological change, as the study suggests (Remoundou 2009). I had no idea that the Aquarium would be such a major player in the seafood industry, and could possibly affect radical change with its conservation efforts on a national level.

Though I commend the New England Aquarium for its conservation efforts, I wonder if they are advertising them to the public as well as they can. What I found most interesting about the Meghan Jeans’ presentation of their various conservation projects was how they communicated them to us in comparison with the more than 1.3 million people that visit the New England Aquarium every year (neaq.org). Through the presentation, I learned about not only the ecological risks in the Kiribati area, but the economic and cultural ones as well, and potential policy disputes in the future. I also learned that there are companies in the seafood industry willing to take steps towards sustainability. Clearly, the Aquarium has the power to affect incredible change, and has done so through its conservation programs, but the educational value reaped by the public on these issues seems to be somewhat lacking. Though the Aquarium takes ample opportunity to educate the public during the visit, such as with booths set up to demonstrate how to put bands on lobsters or talks discussing the dangers affecting sea turtles over the massive central tank, I did not see very much representation of their conservation work on global and national levels. I think it may be important to incorporate these in the future, say in exhibits such as the “Turtle Rescue Team,” in which visitors learn how to rehabilitate young turtles as the Aquarium does in its turtle hospital. Interactive exhibits with animals such as those found in Kiribati, or an exhibit discussing how to select sustainable seafood and which companies have taken a step in a sustainable direction may bring more money to their causes as well as raise more awareness about how the ocean is affected by humans on a much broader scale than just Boston Harbor. I think that what I learned most from the New England Aquarium is the power of education, especially on young minds. I just feel that it needs to be demonstrated and amplified to an even greater extent.

Ariana Mercado

This was my first time going to the New England aquarium. I thought it was a really great experience speaking with research experts on conservation efforts the aquarium is spearheading and seeing the behind the scenes of all the exhibits. I learned a lot about how small acts can go a long way when participating in marine conservation. I thought the most interesting part of the presentation was about what is happening on the Phoenix Islands. The New England aquarium does a lot of grass roots level work, working directly with the residents of the island and environmentalists already present in order to better educate them on climate change and help give them direction on what next steps are important. It saddens me to know this small group of islands, despite them personally being of little fault, are going to be the first impacted by rising sea levels. It also means that in the next few years they will most likely watch their homes disappear. I thought it was great how the government is looking ahead by establishing partnerships with nearby countries such as Australia in order to ensure that residents on the islands have a place to be taken in by as climate change refugees. The ocean is a very delicate balance and the effects of human activity on marine life are far reaching. These people are suffering due to the culmination of the carelessness of others.

Overall, the aquarium trip was very informative and welcoming. I made a deep connection with a red fish and got to touch a stingray. The penguins were great and I got to see a turtle with an under-bite.

Jack Kinney

One of the more interesting things that I learned at the aquarium was the amazing initiative they take in the field of conservation. I had always viewed aquariums and zoos in a semi-negative light because they keep animals in captivity, and there are some very questionable methods by which they capture these animals. I have known that there is valuable research done behind the scenes at aquariums, but I was generally skeptical that this was just a façade their PR departments put up to distract from questionable ethical nature of keeping animals captive.

However, the New England aquarium does amazing work with their research about seafood supply chains and the Phoenix Island Project. To begin, the effort they put into researching the supply chain of seafood for companies like Red Lobster (the only one I can remember) is very impressive. Some of my neighbors worked in the commercial fishing industry in Alaska, and even a domestic fishing operation like the one they owned had its intricacies and complexities, so I can only imagine how difficult tracking a supply chain must be from across the world in countries that don’t document food as well as the FDA. I also found it interesting that it was an aquarium (Monterey Bay) that developed the “stoplight” fish quality rankings, which I refer to when I am wondering about buying a specific fish at my local market.

Another project the aquarium is working on is the Phoenix Islands Project. I had heard of Kiribati, but never the Phoenix Islands specifically. I was impressed that the aquarium was fighting to preserve one of the Earth’s last “pristine” ecosystems. This also brought up the thought-provoking question of whether a country should be financially compensated for the potential profits they lose when they outlaw fishing and turn their reefs into marine protected areas (MPAS).

Overall, I think higher of aquariums as a whole after going down to the New England Aquarium.

Ariana Wetzel

The New England Aquarium is home to over 20,000 marine species from locations around the world. This popular aquarium has over 22,000 members and hosts more than 1.3 million visitors each year (The Aquarium: Making a Lasting Impact, 2015). The aquarium prides itself in community education, offering many educational opportunities such as lectures, classes, and interactive exhibits. The main goals of the New England aquarium are to implement new solutions to protect the oceans through conservation and research projects as well as community education. Due to its extensive programs, the New England Aquarium is a global leader in ocean exploration and marine conservation.

The multiple projects and research groups of the New England Aquarium often focus on endangered species and habitats. For more than 20 years the aquarium’s teams have been working to “protect ecosystems from human impacts and conserve threatened animals and habitats” (Conservation and Research, 2015). Projects cover areas around the world, from the Phoenix Islands in the South Pacific to the Amazon Rainforest to the Bay of Fundy in Canada (Conservation and Research, 2015). Conservationists of the aquarium were instrumental in creating the world’s largest Maine Protected Area by successfully lobbying the re-location of commercial shipping lands out of North Atlantic right whale habitat (Endangered Species and Habitats). The staff of marine conservationists and biologists of the aquarium often participate in rescue efforts for stranded marine mammals and sea turtles (Conservation and Research, 2015). The aquarium also breeds several threaten or endangered species behind the scenes in an effort to repopulate these valuable animals (Endangered Species and Habitats, 2015). Aside from these direct research and conversation efforts, the aquarium focuses its efforts on community education, beginning at a young age.

The aquarium makes a specific effort to involve the community, specifically through after school programs for kids. These hands-on traveling exhibits are free during the school year to qualifying organizations in the area, usually visiting each school three times each season (Community Programs, 2015). These programs allow children to interact and observe marine animals and habitats up close, building an interest in ocean life at a young age. Kids are able to learn scientific information about the animals they interact with in addition to the importance of conservation of marine life. There are three specific after school programs that the New England Aquarium offers: the Lobster Program, the Traveling Tidepool Program, and the Sharks Program (Community Programs, 2015). The most popular of these is the Traveling Tidepool Program, which allows students to handle and observe tide pool animals in their natural habitat. Students learn how these animals adapt in different environments, especially in the threat of climate change. The aquarium staff emphasizes the importance of protecting endangered species for the balance of ocean life (Community Programs, 2015). The ultimate goal of these after school programs is to build an interest and awareness in these students in an effort to protect Earth’s valuable marine ecosystems.

Molly Kornfeind

Since I am devastated to be missing the trip to the New England Aquarium, I decided to spend adequate time on the website looking around mostly at the different animals, the research done in the area, and the education and activities they provide. As I toured the website, I found many resources that furthered my knowledge about how much New England really knows about the ocean–especially since I had my doubts coming from the West Coast. The New England Aquarium has a unique view of the ocean and marine activity due to its different location, different oceans, and different access to day to day processes occurring on the East Coast.

While exploring, I found a link to the internships (for mostly personal reasons!) and I found some information on what kind of research is done and how it is conducted. I stumbled upon their blogs from people who have worked for the aquarium in different facets–mostly around the world doing conservation research.

The aquarium has extensive research and information on the conservation of marine habitats and animals that live in or are in close proximity to marine environments. Being from California, I find myself so fascinated by conservation efforts from New England groups because I always thought they were at such a disadvantage in terms of accessibility to the ocean. There is just as much if not more research being done as a result of New England bases, especially this aquarium. I found the global explorer blogs really compelling because the aquarium gives weekly to nearly daily updates on their projects and discoveries in areas outside of New England.

I specifically found the Phoenix Islands Blog from 2012 riveting because they were able to collect data from the reefs that led them to understand more about the “post-bleaching recovery” of the Marine Protected Area of the Phoenix Islands. Tracking Marine Protected Areas is important so that conservation groups, such as the New England Aquarium group, can understand and improve their methods and prevent further damage from occurring. Additionally, they tagged many types of fish to see how much time they spend in the open ocean as well as how they migrate between the islands. I enjoyed learning about this trip in the blog post format because it was both quick and easy to read as well as very informational and interesting.

Ryan Bullock

The New England Aquarium is a global leader in wildlife conservation and preservation. Its motto / mission statement is “Protecting the blue planet,” highlighting its dedication towards protecting oceanic wildlife. The Aquarium has programs in: Endangered Species, Habitats, Fisheries, Bycatch, Aquaculture, and Climate Change. Realizing that humans cause climate change, the aquarium has dedicated itself towards minimizing the impact of human activity and leading efforts to protect oceanic wildlife.

Given its geographic location, it is not a surprise that the New England Aquarium is also interested in climate change specifically in New England. The aquarium states that climate change is likely to have an impact on everything from the timing of the seasons to the transmission of Lyme disease. People tend to ignore issues like climate change because they have the attitude that the changes caused by it will “not be in their back yard,” – they won’t be affected by it. A program specifically geared towards educating the aquarium’s visitors about the changes caused by climate change should increase awareness about the issue (Climate Change and the Ocean, 2015).

The first issue that the aquarium highlights is the effect that climate change is having on the seasons in New England. The four seasons – summer, fall, winter, and spring – are a given in the lives of most New Englanders; the aquarium examines how climate change has been altering the timing and severity of the seasons. Climate change has been shortening the winter and lengthening the summer. According to the Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment team, New England has been warming at about 0.5 degrees F per decade. The winters have been warming at approximately 1.3 degrees F per decade. The aquarium states how these temperature changes threaten everything from the fall foliage industry to the skiing industry (Climate Change in New England, 2015).

Climate change will also affect the aquarium itself. Climate change will increase sea levels, threatening cities and peoples living near the coast. The aquarium and many other buildings are built in areas prone to flooding and a pronounced rise in sea levels could result in billions of dollars of infrastructure damage. For example, Boston can now expect a 100-year flood – a flooding benchmark used by climate scientists – every two to four years. In New York City, a 100-year flood can be expected every 45-50 years. Nor’easters and hurricanes –like Superstorm Sandy – can also be expected more frequently. Climate change will also negatively affect the wetlands, which are important, very bio-diverse ecosystems (Climate Change in New England, 2015).

Kierra Sweeney

The New England Aquarium is the premier tourist attraction in Boston and will continue to be with its numerous programs and research ventures. The programs are very diverse; they range from simple school trips to foreign marine research projects. These programs all aid in the aquarium’s goal to combine “education, entertainment and action to address the most challenging problems facing the ocean.” These all come together for the aquariums nearly 3.1 million annual visitors in an aesthetic and beautiful building.

For more than 40 years the aquarium has redefined what it has meant to be an aquarium with its incredible public education problems and interactive exhibits. More specifically there is a massive tank in the aquarium that holds numerous species of marine life where visitors can watch them all interact with each other. In addition, there are also smaller exhibits where visitors can get up close and learn more in depth about specific animals.

In addition to the physical attributes of the aquarium it has also been on the forefront of research in many fields. All the programs help in their overarching goal of making a lasting global impact. This goal has led to the creation of the aquariums research programs. They are equally as extensive as impressive, particularly their work with coral reefs and their inhabitants. In a 2-part mission, called the Aquarius Mission. Their researchers lived in the world’s only submerged research center in the Florida National Marine Sanctuary. There they gathered information on coral health and tested innovative ways of tracking fish with electronic acoustic tags. These areas are important to research due to climate change and they effects that it will have on these ecosystems. (Research Projects 2003)

With the increase in sea level and ocean temp the areas where fish swim has slowly been changing, and the local fish are very important to the coastal reefs. For example, in another one of the aquariums research program, they began researching the symbiotic relationship between parrotfish and the coral reefs that it inhabitants. The parrotfish is eat the seaweed that would otherwise threaten to overrun the coral. The aquarium researchers keep note of the environmental changes on the reef and the reef herbivores. This is important because the issue may expand and become worse as climate change occurs. (Endangered Species and Habitats 2015)

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Ecosystems in Balance, From Local to Global, Knowledge into Action, Sustainability Inside and Out, Sustainable Seafood, To Conserve and Protect